


Taichi the Friendly Ghost

by Vertigo17



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Childhood Memories, Fluff, Halloween, M/M, Wingman Omi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-20 16:40:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21284846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vertigo17/pseuds/Vertigo17
Summary: Taichi always had trouble with costumes, but there was one person that seemed to have a knack for helping him out.“No matter how bloody or scary I make you, the moment you smile everyone will know you’re the friendly, G-rated version of that character.”“... Are you saying I have a nice smile?”“That was not the point I was trying to make.”Late Halloween fic. Prompt for #a3_69min : Ghosts from the past
Relationships: Nanao Taichi/Rurikawa Yuki
Comments: 4
Kudos: 150





	Taichi the Friendly Ghost

**Author's Note:**

> This is my submission for the Twitter challenge by @a3_69min! Prompt was "Ghost from the past". It took me 69 minutes... and an hour to make. I failed it miserably. Hope you guys like it!

“I vant to drink your blahd!”

Omi smiled good-naturedly at how serious his roommate could get for such mundane stuff. “I think you’re being a bit _ too _ambitious by trying to give another foreign accent to your already foreign-accented English.”

Taichi lowered his arm, bringing his black coat down to reveal his powdered-face and fake fangs. “Not good?”

“It’s good! Looks… fun?”

“You’re just being nice and not adding the -ny at the end of ‘fun’!” Taichi wailed melodramatically as he removed his coat. He turned back to the cardboard box he had never bothered unpacking. 

The Halloween party of his class had been rescheduled to later tonight and Taichi was scambling for a costume. He had always partook in every costume party for as long as he could remember and had accumulated several attires in his Halloween costume collection. He had caved and gambled on the gacha of a mobile game he was playing with Itaru (which brought out horrible (albeit expected) results) and had to be as frugal as possible for the next month, costume expenses included.

Taichi took out a roll of dirted up bandages, contemplated, and then threw it aside.

Omi bent down to pick it up. “A mummy would be cool?”

“But it won’t show my _ face _! My friends say my costumes are always cool!”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“But _ girls _have never said that!”

Omi laughed again as Taichi threw a witch’s hat (though if asked, Taichi would say it was a _ warlock’s _ hat, obviously) by the side. “You should dress how you _ want _to dress!”

“I want to dress in a _ cool _ and _ sexy _ and _ intimidating _ costume,” Taichi said, turning to him with a pout. There was a slight discordance in Omi’s head at Taichi’s words and his facial expression. “But you just laughed at me! I bet if-if _ Azuma _ -san did, everyone would say it suites him so well! But if _ I _did, everyone’s going to like ‘GG, Taichi, you got best friend side-character vampire that isn’t sparkly and cool down pat’!”

Omi blinked, unsure of how to respond to that. “Uh…”

“There’s gotta be an old costume of mine that’ll look _ cool _on me now that I’ve gotten taller in high school!” Taichi said, returning back to rummaging through the box.

Omi smiled again at how earnest his friend was being… and opted not to say that Taichi’s current height was his own middle school one. 

As he began putting aside more contents of the box, Omi examined the various props. He took hold of the one that fell closest to him, a plain white cloth. He held it up.

It was a simple white blanket with two small holes. Based on how tiny it was, it must’ve been one of Taichi’s costumes in elementary school.

“I’m surprised you still kept this. You must’ve looked so cute.”

“My costumes are _ never _to look cute!” Taichi said as he was examining a horse mask. He turned to look at what Omi was talking about. 

He suddenly flushed red and focused back on his other costumes. “Oh, that was a gift from an old friend,” he mumbled.

Omi grinned at the reaction. “Ah. That first love of yours, I take it? Did she go as Wendy?”

“Wendy?”

“Isn’t she the human friend of Casper?”

“Why does everyone assume me going as a ghost means I went as the _ friendly _ ghost? Can’t I go as a scary, _ regular _ghost?” Taichi said in despair.

Omi laughed and folded up the blanket again before setting it aside. “I guess it isn’t very… you?”

“But Halloween is for dressing up as _ not yourself _!” Taichi slumped over his box, groaning in defeat and began mumbling about the unfairness of life. As Omi tried to console him, Taichi focused his gaze on the white fabric.

_ “So? Isn’t Halloween dressing up as something _ not yourself_?” _

* * *

“Remember, the playground is at the end of the street-”

“_Mom _ ,” a six-year old, skeleton costume-wearing Taichi said with a whine. “I _ know _where the playground is! It’ll only be like two minutes before I meet with Rin-kun and his sister!”

“I can drop you-”

“No! No one else will have their moms dropping them when they live on the _ same street _as the meeting place!” Taichi said, already grabbing hold of his pumpkin basket from his mom. “Bye, mom! I love you!” He gave a quick peck on her cheek before running off.

“Be careful! Take Yuki-chan with you too!” he heard her shout out as he turned a corner.

Taichi lowered his skeleton mask and quickened his pace towards his destination. He caught sight of Yuki and a few older kids talking a few houses ahead. “Yuki-chan!” he called out, now running towards his friend.

Yuki, clad in a pastel pink and green fairy costume, complete with glittery wings and a flower headband, turned to him briefly. 

Taichi almost tripped on air as he properly took in his crush’s appearance. He figuratively and almost literally fell for him again.

“... shouldn’t be wearing something so _ girly _! Gross!” he heard one of other kids say as Taichi took a place beside Yuki.

Before he could ask what their problem was, as most of Yuki’s school friends seemed to not like him for some weird reason, one of them stepped forward and pushed Yuki. Not expecting such a frontal assault, Yuki went unsteady on his feet and fell to the floor. 

Or was supposed to. He felt a pair of hands steady him, but the impact made his own savior fall on the dirty, muddy ground. “T-Taichi?!”

Taichi winced a little as he fell on his side, the right-half of his black and white costume now was black and a very dirty brown.

Yuki turned to glare harshly at the perpetrator. 

Suddenly feeling guilty, he took a step back, “It-It was his fault-”

Not bothering to let him finish, Yuki threw her plastic pumpkin bag at his head, making a resounding thud sound. “Do you want to die this Halloween night?” he said, the hate and venom clearly heard in his voice.

They were running off in a split second.

Yuki turned to his friend that had already stood up. Taichi was trying to get the mud off him, but it was just making the other half of his costume as dirty. “... It was none of your business,” he said. Because heaven forbid Yuki actually _ thank _ him right off the bat. It’s not like he asked for help! This neighbor of his was always, _ always _so nosy and-

“But then you would’ve fell and got your costume dirty!” Taichi said, as if the answer was so clearly obvious. “I mean, my costume is super cool, but yours is like super, _ super _cute! You look like a real fairy!”

“You’re such an idiot.”

“Huh? But everything I said was right...?”

Yuki took hold of his wrist and dragged him into his house. “Let’s clean you up and see if we can fix you.”

* * *

“You are beyond fixing.”

Taichi laughed. “My older cousin says that a lot to me too!”

Yuki patted him on the head, now aware that his teasing tendencies weren't alone towards the small boy.

Taichi didn’t really understand what was going on, but he wasn’t one to reject a head pat from his crush. They were in one of the bathrooms in Yuki’s house. Both his and Taichi’s family were out, so they couldn’t ask for help about their problem. 

“Do you want to borrow my costume from last year? You’re smaller than me, so I think it’ll fit.”

Taichi let out a sigh, dejected. “I… I’m not _ that _small,” he mumbled. “What is it?”

“A princess.”

“Wh-What? _ No _ ! I-I’m a _ guy _!” Taichi said, quickly shaking his head.

“So? Isn’t Halloween dressing up as something _ not yourself _?” Yuki said, crossing his arms. He was marginally offended at how distraught Taichi was getting at the idea, since that was his very own costume last year. 

“W-Well… _ you _didn’t!” Taichi said, pointing at Yuki’s costume.

Yuki rolled his eyes this time. “Do you think I’m a fairy in real life?”

“Well, yeah!”

“_Stupid _.”

“But like, fairies are super cute! And you’re cute! So now you’re just _ double cute _ !” Taichi explained. “Like how my skeleton costume made me look _ double cool_!”

“You were never cool. Zero times two is still zero,” Yuki deadpanned, opting to not acknowledge the blatant compliments he was getting. 

“I so am cool!”

“Whatever.” Yuki merely said. He stared at his friend for a moment. “So you want something cool?”

“Yeah! And scary!” he added.

Yuki huffed a little at his request. “No matter how bloody or scary I make you, the moment you smile everyone will know you’re the friendly, G-rated version of that character.”

“... Are you saying I have a nice smile?” Taichi said with one of his nice smiles.

“That was not the point I was trying to make.”

Taichi pouted and looked down. Yuki swore he saw dog ears fall back on his head. He sighed. “Well, I have an idea then. If that’s your idea of how a Halloween costume should be, just wait here. We have ten minutes before Rin-kun and his older sister start trick-or-treating without us.”

Taichi was still pouting at the blatant disrespect and didn’t say anything as Yuki left the room. He was seated on the closed toilet, his skeleton costume wasn’t as dirty as it was earlier, but it was still obviously not clean. This was his first Halloween in the neighborhood, not to mention he was going to spend it with a really cute girl. It was definitely not starting off great.

… But he supposed Yuki fussing over him was a nice silver lining.

“Stop thinking. It doesn’t look good on you,” Yuki said aloud as he went back into the bathroom.

“It doesn’t?!” Before he could ask further, a white cloth was draped over him. Yuki adjusted it until Taichi’s eyes were not align with two small holes for him to be able to see. He stood up and turned to look at the mirror.

A ghost stared right back at him.

“Co~ol!” Taichi said, raising his arms. “I see this kind of ghost costume all the time on TV!”

Yuki placed the scissors on the sink counter. He had brought it in case he needed to adjust the eye holes. “Other than the eyes, it needed no effort at all. Now, let’s go.”

Taichi followed after Yuki as they left his house. “This is so _ cool!_” he said again, still completely impressed. 

“It’s not cool at all,” Yuki said, exasperated at how Taichi was still gushing over something so simple. 

“But aren’t ghosts like… cool and scary and stuff?”

“Not you. You’re Taichi the Friendly Ghost.”

“Eh?! Why can’t I be a _ regular_, _scary _ghost? My smile is covered!”

Yuki merely gestured to his friend. “Your very self is leaking out.”

“... Leaking?! From like, the eye holes?!”

“Even the stupidity is as plain as day.”

“But it’s night time?!”

As Taichi began further mumbling in despair while they were heading to the park, Yuki reached into his own bag and pulled out three strawberry lollipops. He placed them inside Taichi’s bag, making a loud clanking sound as they fell.

Taichi stopped mid-sentence and looked at his bag. “Huh? You’re giving me candy?”

“They’re my favorite, so my older sister bought me a lot earlier. I was supposed to give Rin-kun and his sister too, but I’ll give them all to you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re stupid and nosy.”

“I’m-!”

“And for helping me earlier. Thank you.”

* * *

Taichi fell on his back, staring up at the ceiling. “This is hopeless. My very nature probably leaks out no matter what costume, huh?” he mused aloud.

His trip down memory lane was nice, but it wasn’t doing good for his current predicament. 

Omi was now fiddling around with a pair of handcuffs, still marveling at the amount of props. “While I’m sure you can _ act _ cool and scary, you won’t be going on stage, you know? You’ll be with friends. Your true self would undoubtedly come out... And I’m sure you’d want the girl that’ll fall for you not be because of just a cool costume?”

Taichi curled into a fetal position. “I’m okay with any girl liking me for any reason.”

There was a sudden knock on their door. Without bothering to wait for a response, it opened to reveal their costume designer. Yuki stared at the self-loathing Taichi for a moment and the complete mess around him. Not bothering to ask, he looked at Omi. “Ma, I need help baking cookies.”

Omi set down a pair of eyeballs. “Oh, sure! For your own class Halloween party tomorrow?”

“Yes. A classmate said that there’s no way I can be good at _ both _sewing and cooking.”

“But... you aren't? You're still learning your way around a kitchen-”

“He doesn’t know that.”

“... But… doesn’t that defeat the purpose of proving him wrong?”

“I just want to piss him off,” Yuki said with a shrug. “Morals be damned.” Deciding to finally address the elephant in the room, he turned to the boy on the floor. “What’s this idiot doing?”

Omi suddenly brightened up as an idea came to mind. “Think you can help him with a costume, Yuki? Think of it as payment for me helping you out!”

“You never needed payment for helping.”

“I do now!”

“... These better be some damn good cookies.”

* * *

“So, did you get a girl?”

Taichi looked up from his candy stash and saw that Yuki had taken a seat across him. It was late at night and he had just come home from his class’ party. He had laid out his stash of candy all over the dining table while it was empty. 

He sighed and shook his head. “Nope… But I did get a lot of head pats from them! That’s not so bad either! And so many of my classmates gave me extra candy!” he exclaimed proudly.

Yuki’s eyes lazily scanned the table of treats, until they fell on the wolf ears and tail on the side. “Told you going as a not-so-dumb dog would do you good. It doubles your puppy charm.”

Taichi’s eyes widened and he stared at Yuki, mouth agape in shock. “Are you saying I’m charming?!”

“Where did you get that? There was nothing to read in-between the lines,” he deadpanned. Before he could retort, Yuki focused his gaze back on the candy piles. “What are you doing?”

“Sorting out all the candy I got! I ate way too much earlier, so I’ll be giving them to the other members!” He pointed at a pile of sour candy. “Ban-chan loves these!” To a pile of triangle-shaped treats. “These are for Misumi-san!” To a pile of local Japanese-food flavored treats. “Citron-san’s!” To a pile of randomly assorted candy. “These are all the other candy! They’ll be for Juza-san! He loves everything!”

Yuki nodded in acknowledgement and stood up. “Nothing wrong with further worsening the diabetes endemic-”

“And these are for you, Yuki-chan! Thank you for your help earlier!”

A trio of strawberry lollipops was offered to him. 


End file.
